Here be Dragons: A bit of info if you meet with natural disasters in Japan

Hm. This week, my post deviates a bit from the theme of this blog, “about forests in Yokohama and Kanagawa.” After writing last week’s post, I realized I may be of some help for you guys who happen to be in Megalopolis Tokyo, or in Japan, when natural disaster hits. Many people say especially casual visitors, or people who don’t understand Japanese, have difficulty to obtain vital info for typhoon, floods, tsunami, etc. Yeah. Earthquake is terrible, but it comes suddenly. The level of preparedness, at least mentally, for it would be the same between locals and visitors. In contrast, natural disasters with water, like storms and tsunamis, take some time to come. A monster tsunami took 10 minutes to gulp Manazuru Peninsula 真鶴半島 in 1923. Having good info as quickly as possible could be a matter of life or death. So, today, I tell you some sources for info issued by local and national pubic entities about natural disasters.

The first line of defense of this matter in Japan is local offices. Say, you live in one of those wards in Yokohama or Tokyo. Then, the ward office has many information for disaster risk reduction. It includes

a.      Map for the location of designated evacuation center near you,

b.      Map for the location of delivery for water and any other emergency supplies by the public office,

c.      Map of medical services ready for opening the door whatever happens,

d.      Map of the area where the office thinks it has a high possibility to suffer water disaster, and earthquake; these two things can mean the same thing, i.e. fragile land = landslides and flood-prone swamp,

e.      Nice booklets for you to prepare for the disaster. The most famous one is by Tokyo, called “Tokyo Bousai 東京防災“ which was distributed for Tokyoites. This book keeps its #1 Best Seller position in this genre in Japan, and downloadable as Kindle, free of charge, from here.

If you have any question you can ask to the desk they have in the local government office building. Actually, their HP has the above info so that you can go there first before physically visiting the place. They also have services for emergency alert system to the people who stay in their ward / city / town, like living there, or working in the area. You go to their HP, and register your email address, or SNS account. When an evacuation order is issued, they will notify via your contact addresses you’ve left in this page.

Inside Tokyo Bousai, showing the evacuation flow chart.

But sometimes we need info for much larger geographical coverage. If a heavy rain causes trouble in upper stream, people in the region of lower down will have problems eventually. Or, knowing a super-typhoon is approaching from the east of the Philippines, we can have more time to prepare. About the weather forecast in general, there are several apps for your phone. You can choose whichever you like during your stay in Japan. We locals check NHK news in TV or, with their app, downloadable from any app store, free of charge. NHK has obtained the trust of us through decades of major disasters like last years’ super typhoons, Fukushima Nukes, or numerous earthquakes. They also have English app pages so that you don’t have to rely heavily on Google translation to know the latest info. Their info is not only for weather but also evacuation order or the like. In terms of detail, NHK is inevitably not so good as the info delivered from your registered ward. But, say, if you happen to be in the affected area which is away from your registration, you may know what is going on around you from the NHK site.

In Google Play, app for NHK news looks like this.

These two places I mentioned above are a sort of info aggregators who receive the data from the public offices such as Japan Meteorological Agency, and Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism. The primary sources also have their HP whose info is constantly updated, especially when the disaster is hitting. Needless to say, their info is the fastest, but we need finesse to navigate such pages as they are mainly for experts. Having said that, they have, er, well, a kind of, one-stop shop for the general public to obtain info directly from them. From the Meteorological Agency, you can go there, and your phone or PC’s GPS automatically sends your location data for the Agency to show the relevant disaster-related weather condition. I’ve found out they do not make this particular page in foreign language. That’s a pity. But if you find somebody who can tell you what’s on the page, it is the info for that translating someone would love to know urgently.

English version of Japanese Met Agency HP
 starts from the general portal.
 You have to dig into from here.
 It’s cumbersome …

About the condition of dams, banks, and water flows for the river, bays, sea, … the primary info comes from the Ministry. You go there, and click whatever info you need from the icons. The same info is available from your smartphone from

https://river.go.jp/s/

and, hurrrrah, they have an English version from

http://www.river.go.jp/e/?lon=139.752844&lat=35.687088&zoom=7&opa=0.4&inundation=0&obsDisp=1&cctvDisp=1&riverDisp=1&waterLevelDisp=1

 (er, yeah, it’s a bit abbreviated info.)

They contain live video streaming from ministerial cameras situated at the strategic points for possible disaster. We can also combine data such as the risk of tsunami, flood, volcano, and (known) active faults to assess comprehensively a location, and to make a hazard map. Please play around with the site for a while, and we can prepare before the next one comes. Also, the Ministry has this site of detailed hazard map. There, we can layer the risks of flood, landslides, tsunami, road-related disasters on particular address within Japan. Not only for preparing evacuation, but also in case you plan to purchase a real estate in Japan, this info could be vital. Please check it.

Japanese portal for the HP of River Info looks like this.
 We click any of these boxes and play around.

Speaking of having fun to prepare for disaster, Tsurumi River has a nice facility by the Ministry. It’s Tsurumi River Watershed Center 鶴見川流域センター, next to the New Yokohama Sports Park 新横浜公園. Basically, the place is to offer info about Tsurumi River, including geological feature, history, biodiversity, the volunteers for the River, and advises for preparing possible flood, tsunami, and the other disasters caused by the River. It’s a family-friendly place with aquarium for water creatures living in Tsurumi River. They have a mini-library where we can borrow encyclopedia for nature, history and any other books about the area. The place also organizes public event such as workshops like I introduced you last week, concerts, movies, etc. They are often free of charge, or only for a nominal fee. The Center has a large display of hazard maps for towns in Machida, Kawasaki, and Yokohama that are along Tsurumi River. It covers the area of Kawasaki next to Tama River. It could be a vital info for your survival in the area. If you have any chance to visit the New Yokohama Sports Park, please consider visiting the Center. It’s fun there!

Tsurumi River Watershed Center.
 Could you see a forest in their back?
 It’s Kozukue Citizen Forest.

A photo when the Sports Park was hit by the largest flood in 2014,
 shown in the Center.
 Yeah, it’s a scary photo,
 but the park did not reach to the max.
 Amazing.

He’s from Tsurumi River.

Hazard maps shown for the cities along Tsurumi River.

Every Sunday at 13:00, the Center has a fun event
 for kids to know how rainwater runs in Tsurumi River Basin,
 using diorama and marbles.
 It’s really an eye-opening experiment for adults as well.
 We can understand why the Sports Park
 and Nissan Stadium must be in that location
 to tame the damage of flood
 on population and industry center of Tokyo Bay.

And finally, those are the tree lingo for alert during the emergency. Yap, they are mouthful even for locals (; they are legal terms, in the end), but it’s not useless to know the meaning of it.

1.      Hinanjunbi-Koreisha-toh-Hinankaishi 避難準備・高齢者等避難開始 “Be ready to evacuate, and if you’re in a certain condition, move to the evacuation center.” That is to say, you must be ready to evacuate if this alert is issued, but do not have to move yet. Though, if you are handicapped due to physical and /or mental condition, or you’re a senior citizen, you should move to the evacuation shelter now.

2.      Hinankankoku 避難勧告 “Recommendation to evacuate.” Now is the time for all of us to move to the evacuation shelter.

3.      Hinanshiji (Kinkyu) 避難指示（緊急）”Immediate evacuation order.” People say if the situation reaches to this point, your travel for evacuation is very likely to be in Hollywood’s action movie. Better avoiding it, and act while the level is still in Hinankankoku, I suppose.

The local offices, Meteorological Agency, or any other governmental entity will use one of these three words when the time comes. Furthermore, for the preparation of us citizens, last December Japanese government started a campaign to create “Our timeline for evacuation” by ourselves. To support the task, they have this portal. Although the content is for 10 years’ old kids and up, it’s not in English, regrettably. If you know somebody who can read Japanese, please try together. The process completing the timeline is a fun group work, and very educational experience, I bet.

My Time Line portal by the Ministry

Tsurumi River Watershed Center

Open: 10:00-17:00, Wed-Mon

2081 Kozukue-cho, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama 222-0036

〒230-0051 神奈川県横浜市港北区2081

Phone: 045-475-1998

FAX: 045-475-1999

Also, Keihin River Office of Kanto Development Bureau is asking people to send digital photos of water disaster from Tsurumi/Tama/Sagami River. The picture will be used for PR to inform general public about the risk of flood. (Copywrite will be of the Ministry.) You can send a JPG file to

ktr-mizumasu-ryuuiki@mlit.go.jp

with you name, contact address, the place and time you took the photo in your email, titled: Flood photo of Tsurumi or Tama or Sagami River. If you prefer you can send CD-R or DVD-R to

Keihin River Office, Kanto Development Bureau

Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of Japan

国土交通省　関東地方整備局　京浜河川事務所

2-18-1 Tsurumi-chuoh, Tsurumi Ward, Yokohama, 230-0051

〒230-0051 神奈川県横浜市鶴見区鶴見中央2-18-1

Phone: 045-503-4000

How to Train Your Dragon: Tsurumi River and a pond near Niiharu Citizen Forest

On the eastside of Niiharu Citizen Forest, there is a man-made pond, connected to Umeda River that is a second tributary for Tsurumi River 鶴見川 via On’daRiver 恩田川. The existence of it has been always a mystery for me. The pool is made of concrete walls, although now it is full of aquatic life with muds flown in from the forests. The size of Niiharu Forest gives us a feeling we are standing in a traditional agricultural area. It is not at all true. Just 5 minutes’ walk from the pond, we are surrounded by ordinary suburbia of Megalopolis Tokyo. There is no agriculture needing water reservoir for their business. Then, what’s for that pond? It must have costed lots of money to build such structure. I know it’s not a private property, but of the City. So, that pool is made of taxpayers’ money. There must be a good reason for the existence of the pond. Recently, I learned the raison d’être of it. It has a VERY serious duty to perform, I realized.

This is the pond.
 The forest over there is the eastside of Niiharu Forest.

If you’re familiar to ordinary towns of Yokohama, you may notice there are lots of signs like this:

The panel says, “Below this building, there is a storm water reservoir.” It is a way of controlling flood often caused by small rivers running in our city. You see? Yokohama is a port town, i.e. we have many small but steep hills falling down to Tokyo Bay. Such geological feature makes the place good for port. At the same time, in Yokohama very tiny water streams go down the ubiquitous small valleys between the steep hills. They may be pequeños, but for a densely populated city can be troublesome enough with torrential rains. As they are small, they can quickly reach to the capacity, and cause floods in downtown. How to control such incidents is always the important issue for ages in Japan.

Small Umeda River

The other day, Prof. Yuji Kishi of Keio University explained to us Kanagawa Forest Instructors the basic method of controlling such flood. Before, when our society was mainly for agriculture, the flat places where water entered easily was used for rice paddies. The sites were good for staple cultivation, and acted as an important buffer for overflow caused by rains and rivers. Many traditional rice cultivars in Japan were resilient for floods so that their quality was not affected much, even after several weeks of inundation in late summer and fall. Those were the days. Now, especially Yokohama and Kawasaki in Metropolitan Tokyo area, the places prone to flood are developed for factories, offices, housings, shopping centers … with millions of people. Meanwhile, rivers won’t change their course when we build our sweet home on their way. When a storm comes, nature wins, and humans face devastation with deluge.

The mouth of KatabiraRiver 帷子川 at the Port of Yokohama.
 Here, we have brackish water, but not yet of sea.
 You see?
 Global HDQ of Nissan stands at the lovely waterfront,
 but if flood occurs,
 the building does not stand at the pole position.

The professor pointed out, especially for Tsurumi River (my post on August 2, 2019), its geological condition presents THE serious threats. It’s a very short river; 42.5km in total starts from a spring at ASL170m in Machida City of Tokyo. Direct distance between the origin to its mouth is less than 20km, whereas the river creates 235km² of catchment area. i.e., The flow is meandering the relatively flat flood plain before ending at Tokyo Bay. No wonder it overflows very often when strong typhoon comes. The flood plain of Tsurumi River is home of huge population larger than the City of Osaka. During the high growth era of the 1960s, regularly 20000 households of Yokohama and Kawasaki suffered a lot with the flood of Tsurumi River. I imagine the situation could be similar to the current problem of people in Dhaka, Bangladesh … In the early 1970s, the mandarins of Japanese government reached the conclusion they could not contain Tsurumi River with a “standard way.” In terms of civil engineering, Professor Kishi continues, the easiest way to avoid inundation in Yokohama and Kawasaki area by Tsurumi River is to cut all the trees in upstream hills, including Niiharu Forest, concrete every slopes for rain water to pass smoothly, and widen the river by removing all the human activities from the flood plain. In this way, rainwater would smoothly flow into the sea. BUT, of course, we cannot take this method in Megalopolis Tokyo.

Recent Tsurumi River near Kamoi Ohashi Bridge 鴨居大橋.
 People are busy restoring the bank
 destroyed by Typhoon Hagibis
 (; my post on January 17, 2020).

Even though, if we can control the amount of water flowing into the river at least to some extent, we can protect our life. People living along Tsurumi River including municipal governments + the central government gathered their brain to come up with a plan. In 1980, the Integrated Flood Management Policy for Tsurumi River went into the effect. 2020 is its 40^th anniversary. The measure is unique in Japan as this is a cross-municipal arrangement where the central government and civil society organizations act as a mediator, or connector, of sorts among 3 regional governments; Machida, Kawasaki, and Yokohama along the river. Prof. Kishi presides TRnet 鶴見川流域ネットワーキング which is a civic organization covering the Tsurmi River itself and sits at the Inter-municipality + National Office Council regarding Tsurumi River Basin 鶴見川流域水協議会.

Despite of a substantial flood last fall,
 water birds are surviving ...

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport is executing civil engineering projects to fortify banks, smoothing out the river flow with various measures (including underground aqueducts) to lessen the impact of flood water running down the sea. It also created the huge multipurpose anti-flood pond which is the New YokohamaSports Park with Nissan Stadium for 2002 FIFA World Cup and 2019 Rugby World Cup. (More to this next week.) The inter-municipal arrangement is also engaging in the measures to improve the quality of forests along the river in order to advance forests’ ability to retain rainwater before washing down to Tsurumi River. Each municipality supports civil society activities to maintain the health of forests along Tsurumi River. Yokohama has 12 Citizen Forests in Tsurumi River Basin. Each has Lovers Organization of volunteers that receive financial and technical assistance from the City with Green Tax funding. Lovers of Niiharu Citizen Forest is the largest. We are busy with maintaining our forest to keeping its ability of retaining water. For Niiharu Forest, also the Council for Fun Learning along Umeda River 梅田川水辺の楽校協議会, a member for Niiharu Council together with the Lovers (; my post on April 22, 2016), works closely with TRnet. Machida and Kawasaki too have their own scheme to promote civic activity for the health of forests in Tsurumi River Basin. In addition, municipal governments constructed numerous storm water ponds not only for Tsurumi River but also for the other rivers under their territory. The pond next to Niiharu Forest is one of them.

The New Yokohama Sports Park with Nissan Stadium

Umeda River becomes maddeningly beautiful
 with Spiraea thunbergii in Spring.
 Please come in late March to early April
 for your relaxed walk along the river, next to Niiharu Forest.
 The Council for Fun Learning along Umeda River is
 in charge of picking up garbage and mowing in the riverbed.

I was a little taken aback to the map shown by the professor which showed the location of flood reservoirs along the river. The shape of the basin for Tsurumi River looks like a cute tapir. Then, the dots representing ponds were like polka dots decorating the entire body of the animal, like some object created by Yayoi Kusama. In total there are more than 4900 ponds for flood control of Tsurumi River. Woooooooooow. The professor told us this arrangement was possible because it is for Tsurumi River that runs the richest municipalities in Japan, very near to the offices of the central government. The place has money to mobilize all the relevant actors, national and local governments + civil society, to control the flood. “I think the only place possible to replicate Tsurumi River model would be in Osaka whose budgetary scale could support such project. However, the local governments of Osaka are at odds with the national offices in Tokyo so that mandarins in Tokyo do not like to touch it …” Prof. Kishi told us. That’s sounds depressing. If such coordination is rare even for tiny rivers, what would happen for those rivers flowing internationally? How can people manage natural (or otherwise) disasters caused by their river when your neighbor speaks completely different “language”? 

A tapir wearing a coat of polka dots

Prof. Kishi added more in his seminar; with such ferocious downpouring these days, the era we can count on the ability of forests to retain rainwater is over. Yes, healthy forest with enough mulch absorbs droplets from heaven, up to a point. If an extreme shower occurs in a very short period of time like that of Typhoon Hagibis last year, or, if substantial raining continues for unusual period of time like we had last October and November, any forest cannot keep water beneath the system of roots and soils. Once the ground reaches to the max capacity, it gives in to the law of gravity, and causes landslide. Any landslip with lots of living trees causes the max devastation. Debris flow contains not only earth and rocks, but also logs, huge roots, and anything that was once a part of a forest. The impact of such avalanche is far worse. Say, if they reach to the river, mixture of logs and earth destroys bridges far rapidly than the slide only with tumbling rocks. “The arrangement for Tsurumi River is not yet at all adequate to tackle frequent ‘once in 100 years’ typhoons. Considering its extremely urban circumstances, we may have hit the technical limit already.” Hmmmmmmmmm … At least last year, the reservoir attached to Niiharu Forest retained water while Umeda River next to the forest run maddeningly to On’da River. How long it can go that way? At least, we Lovers of Niiharu Citizen Forest are every weekend busy maintaining our forest with its mulch, hoping it retains rain …

The collapse

By the way, this Sunday, February 24^th, from 13:30 at Tsurumi River Watershed Center  鶴見川流域センター next to Yokohama Sports Center, Prof. Kishi will have a workshop about Tsurumi River and the New Yokohama Sports Park with Nissan Stadium. RSVP at

Tsurumi River Watershed Center

Phone: 045-475-1998

FAX: 045-475-1999

https://kokucheese.com/event/index/591430

The participation fee is 100 yen for a cup of coffee served there. Anyway, when you find issues in Tsurumi River, please make a contact with

Keihin River Office, Kanto Development Bureau

Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of Japan

国土交通省　関東地方整備局　京浜河川事務所

2-18-1 Tsurumi-chuoh, Tsurumi Ward, Yokohama, 230-0051

〒230-0051 神奈川県横浜市鶴見区鶴見中央2-18-1

Phone: 045-503-4000

A bit of dawdling before riding a bus: Togawa Prefectural Park of Kanagawa 神奈川県立戸川公園

Ohkura Community 大倉 in Hadano City 秦野市 is the main entrance to Tanzawa Mountains 丹沢. I guess some of you have visited there in order to climb up to Mt. Nabewari (ASL 1272.4m 鍋割山), Mt. Tonodake (ASL 1490.9m 塔ノ岳), Mt. Tanzawa (ASL 1567m 丹沢山), and beyond. The access is from the North Exit of Odakyu Shibusawa Station 小田急渋沢 where we take Kanachu Bus to Ohkura 神奈中バス大倉, the terminal stop (; the timetable is from here). From the stop there are many hiking courses to the peaks. As it is really a popular portal for Tanzawa, sometimes catching a return bus to Shibusawa Station can be an experience similar to riding Metro in downtown Tokyo. It’s not uncommon to wait for the second next bus at Ohkura Stop, especially around 16:00 in summer (; well, FYI, the timetable is here). The saving grace is, near the bus stop there are several food venues, like for soba noodle or ice cream. Besides, the bus stop is at the entrance to Togawa Prefectural Park of Kanagawa 神奈川県立戸川公園. This week I tell you my mini-adventure at Togawa Park. It’s a lovely place for family weekend.

Ohkura terminal stop.
 On our right of this photo is the rest house where
 you can drop your hiking registration to Tanzawa area.
 Please report when you enter the mountains.
 In case you have an accident,
 the registration card will be a vital info for rescuers.

As the location of Ohkura suggests, Togawa Park is spreading over hill-slopes of Tanzawa. In the middle, there runs Mizunahsi River 水無川 originating from Mt. Tonodake. Mizunashi River is the main river which have created an alluvial fun for a main part of downtown Hadano City. As I told you in my post for Shinseiko Lake 震生湖 on November 15 last year, the area is on the crushing point between the Philippines and North American Plates. Here, a gigantic force pushes up ancient gravel layers from the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. It makes the riverbed and banks of Mizunashi River sandy and porous for water seeping in easily. Consequently, the water flow looks few, if any, for Mizunashi River. It often turns into underground. Actually, “Mizunashi 水無” in Japanese means “No Water.” Togawa Park uses such feature of the river. On the very wide riverbed it equips BBQ space, kids’ playground, fields for baseball and the other sports. As long as the river is “dry” we can go very near to the shore. It’s a popular summering spot. Between April to November, we can have a BBQ party there; RSVP via internet only.

On the riverbank they have a tea house,
 open 9:00-16:00 (the last order at 15:30),
 where we can enjoy Japanese maccha tea and sweets.
 The most expensive menu is 500 yen (USD 5).
 It’s a nice place.

Traditional Japanese Garden at the tea house.

The BBQ place, closed during winter.

Kids’ planground. Beyond that are sports fields.

Could you see a sort of cobbled road
 running in the middle of the stream?
 It’s actually a bridge over Mizunashi River.
 Those on the right is the BBQ place.

And this is the photo taken from the bridge shown above.
 You see?
 Mizunashi River is really “Mizunashi.”

Many roads in the Park is wide and well-managed.

Pergolas very near to the bus stop.
 We can use them to have a mini-break while
 you’re waiting for the next bus after your hiking.

But the first thing we notice when we arrive at Ohkura bus stop must be a large but elegant suspension bridge over Mizunashi River. Its name is “Kaze-no-Tsuribashi (Bridge of Wind 風の吊り橋)” that is for pedestrian only. One of the standard routes to the main peaks of Tanzawa starts from here. We cross the bridge, turn left, and meet with (mostly) two roads; one via Togawa Forestry Road 戸川林道 climbing up to the peak of Mt. Tonodake, and another via San’no Toh 三ノ塔 (aka Mt. Bodai 菩提山, ASL 1204m) going the ridge way, with a view to the Pacific Ocean, to Mt. Tonodake. Anyway, many people notice at the end of the bridge, on the middle of the hill, there is a log house. It’s the Prefectural Mountaineering Sports Center 神奈川県山岳スポーツセンター. If you ponder to acquire proper skills of mountaineering for, say, Mt. Everest someday, this is the main entrance to such world.

Kaze-no-Tsuribashi

A picture taken from the Bridge
 towards Tanzawa Mountains.
 Could you see Togawa Forestry Road
 running along the River on the right of this photo?

At the end of the Bridge from the Bus Stop,
 there is this signpost.
 To the right is for the Tea House,
 Prefectural Mountaineering Sports Center,
 and an ample Parking space.
 To the left is to San’no Toh.

If you just pass the parking,
 we enter Ohkura Community where we can see Pacific Ocean …

Opposite direction from the above photo is
 to “the Front Ridgeway of Tanzawa.”
 This is the entrance to the hiking road to San’no Toh.

Just this point for San'no Toh,
 we can find this panel explaining wild animals of the area,
 and

A pond where wild birds might congregate if you’re lucky.

A shortcut to the Prefectural Mountaineering Sports Center
is going up this narrow road on the left of this photo.

The Prefectural Mountaineering Sports Center

Inside the Center, they have seminar rooms, a training gym, a kitchen, a dining room, and lodging facility. It also acts as the main office for Kanagawa Mountaineering Federation. Throughout a year, they have numerous seminars and training sessions for the mountaineering and sports climbing; their HP is here. Thanks to Tokyo 2020 Olympics Games, the interest into sports climbing is going up now. So, the Prefecture is currently updating the bouldering gym here. They plan to open the new facility by the end of March, in time for the opening of Tokyo Olympics Games (although 2020 Olympics match for Sports Climbing will be held at a temp venue in Tokyo Bay Area). Basically, the usage of the Prefectural Mountaineering Sports Center requires reservation via HP or phone at 0463-87-9025. But, if, say, there is a vacancy for accommodation on a day at 15:00, we can check in without reservation. It’s a Youth Hostel kind of place, 3140 yen per night, with showers (but no spa, we lament). We have to bring our pajama, towels, and toiletry with ourselves. Also, they do not sell food itself so that we have to bring our own food to cook in the kitchen. Their kitchen has stoves, pans, sinks, refrigerator, a microwave and dishes; but no oven (mind you, this is Japan). Especially during winter when the Federation does not have seminars, the place often has a vacancy. It may be a bargain.

15m mobile climbing wall before the renewal.

They are having a heavy construction work now.
 Anyway, RSVP.

Next to the new wall,
 a new building is under construction now.
 May be it would be a gym with more walls.

A drop box for hiking registration next to the Center.
 You see? I took this photo around 15:30,
 and the inside of the box is this much full.
(Normally, the police collect the cards once a day.)
 Many hikers passed by here …

The Togawa Park has another main information center of the Prefecture. It is Hadano Visitor Center for Tanzawa-Oyama Quasi-national Park 丹沢大山国定公園・自然公園秦野ビジターセンター, open 9:00-16:30 daily except December 29-January 3. It’s right next to the ice-cream shop in front of the bus stop so that some of you may have known. The place has the latest information of hiking roads and nature of Tanzawa-Oyama area. When we enter there, we’ll be welcomed by mini libraries and nature museum on the left. On the right is the admin office. When you have any question about the Quasi-national Park, you can inquire there … I hope their English is improving. If you need to borrow binoculars, magnifying glass, and illustrated graphic books for the nature of Tanzawa, you may ask them: they rent, free of charge, such tools for nature observation (; you have to return them before the closing time). Every second and forth Saturday of a month, the rangers have a kids-friendly nature talk between 13:30-14:00, free of charge and no reservation necessary. You just pop in the museum area, and you’ll be the member for the talk. Besides those regular info services, they preside special events throughout the year. Please check the latest at their HP here.

Hadano Visitor Center for Tanzawa-Oyama Quasi-national Park

Mini-museum for the nature of Tanzawa at the Visitor Center

Paradoxically, it’s difficult to know Togawa Park as we’re always busy for weekend hiking in Tanzawa from Ohkura. But if we just stop running around, and take a deep breath looking Bridge of Wind and the Pacific Ocean over there, we’ll notice the Park is a comfortable place. Spring is coming and soon the Park will be full of tulips and cherry blossoms local volunteers are taking care of. BBQ will follow!

Mountaineering Sports Center of Kanagawa Prefecture

神奈川県立山岳スポーツセンター

1392 Togawa Hadano, Kanagawa Prefecture, 259-1306

〒259-1306　秦野市戸川1392Phone: 0463-87-9025

Hadano Visitor Center for Tanzawa-Oyama Quasi-national Park

丹沢大山国定公園・自然公園秦野ビジターセンター

1513 Horiyamashita, Hadano, Kanagawa Prefecture, 259-1304

〒259-1304 秦野市堀山下1513Phone: 0463-87-9300

If you find environmental issues in Kanagawa Prefecture, please make a contact with

Kanagawa Natural Environment Conservation Center 神奈川県自然環境保全センター

657 Nanasawa, Atsugi City, 243-0121

〒243-0121　厚木市七沢657
Phone: 046-248-0323

You can send an enquiry to them by clicking the bottom line of their homepage at http://www.pref.kanagawa.jp/div/1644/